When I was just little girl, my grandparents had a garden in the backyard of their house in El Paso, TX. The backyard itself was like a dream. My brother and I would spend hours swinging in the hammock or splashing in the fountain. Tiny turtles rescued from the desert wandered through the bushes with red names painted on their shells. But my fondest memory was the garden surrounded by trees nestled in the back corner. With its tiny sprouts and intricately placed rows of dirt, I couldn’t wait to dig my small hands into the roots. I desperately tried to push the plow around, but my 5 year old self simply wasn’t strong enough. My grandparents were patient with me, as I didn’t understand the time and dedication it took to keep a garden. How could I know then the hours my grandpa spent tending it, picking the weeds in order that the plants would reach their full potential?
Now, nearly 13 years later, the Lord is taking me back to that garden and the care it required. He’s turning my attention to my own garden, the one I tend every single day. He’s telling me that the trees in my garden bear some fruits well, and He is calling me to a life that is in full bloom. When I look at my own rows of dirt and tiny sprouts, I see the care it is going to need. I climb the trees and realize the fruits that I’m not bearing well. Jesus climbs those trees with me, carefully watering the joy, love, and goodness. He fertilizes the patience and peace, looking to me to keep up the work He has begun. He tells me, “I am ready to bring others into this garden, and they are going to need good fruit to eat.”
It would be naïve of me to think that I am some sort of gardener prodigy. I so easily let weeds and rotten fruits go unnoticed. I get tired of getting my hands dirty, especially when the labor seems too daunting. I stand unable to push my plow because I feel I am not strong enough, big enough, enough. But my Father never ceases to work in my garden. He is patient with me when I don’t understand the time and dedication it takes to tend it. He gets his hands dirty, not because He has to but because He wants to. His eyes don’t see the weeds and the mess, but rather the beauty it can become with His help. He has me count to cost of following him and says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
So yes, Lord. Yes to gritting my teeth and pushing my plow without looking back. Yes to taking the time to pick the weeds out. Yes to not getting it quite right every time, but having the Gardener with the best green thumb on my side.
Thank you so much for all the support I have received. I am about $3000 away from being fully funded!!!! I am so grateful for you and the work the Lord is doing through you.
